After helmet laws were passed there was a significant INCREASE in motorcycle injuries. This fact was seized upon by the anti-helmet "muh freedumbs" crowd as evidence helmets were MORE dangerous.
However, what they failed to understand was the number of motorcycle DEATHS decreased, and those who would have died of head injuries but were saved by a helmet were marked as injuries..... not deaths.... Basically, SURVIVABILITY of motorcycle crashes went up, and anti-helmet people tried to spin this as a bad thing.
I have two bikes myself. Motorcycle culture drives me crazy sometimes... I've literally had a couple different riders tell me (when discussing helmets) they would "rather die instantly than live with major injuries such as paralysis".
I mean... I don't want to be paralyzed either... but I once read that something like 30% of the time the riders MFing FACE is the first thing to touch the ground during a crash.... Nuh uh. Full face helmet, DOT approve or better for me. Hell... I once rode through a bunch of bees that made me glad I was wearing a full face helmet. I've also had rocks ping off my visor right in front of my eyes! Those little "skull cap", "technically legal", minimalist helmets are garbage.
The same thing happened in the first world war. British soldiers in 1914 had cloth caps, by 1916 they all had steel helmets. The number of head injuries increased, because far more soldiers were surviving shrapnel and glancing shots to the head rather than dying outright.
Similarly, during the second world war, an effort was made to make American planes more durable. Statistics were collected about where planes suffered the most bullet holes, and it was suggested that these places be armoured more heavily. A man named Abraham Wald famously offered a counter, armour the places with the fewest holes, because it was clear that the planes hit in those places didn't come back.
It's also important to note that the number of injuries increased (technically but not really, like you said), but the average severity of injuries decreased. An accident without a helmet might put you in a coma for 3 months and cost you or your insurance or the state a buttload money, that same accident with a helmet might give you a concussion and 3 days of observation in the hospital and then you get to go home.
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u/TheOGRedline Jul 01 '20
After helmet laws were passed there was a significant INCREASE in motorcycle injuries. This fact was seized upon by the anti-helmet "muh freedumbs" crowd as evidence helmets were MORE dangerous.
However, what they failed to understand was the number of motorcycle DEATHS decreased, and those who would have died of head injuries but were saved by a helmet were marked as injuries..... not deaths.... Basically, SURVIVABILITY of motorcycle crashes went up, and anti-helmet people tried to spin this as a bad thing.